THE NEW YORK POPS
2008-2009

The New York Pops was founded by Skitch Henderson in 1983 to give New York a permanent professional symphonic pops orchestra that would create greater public awareness and appreciation of America’s rich musical heritage. The orchestra is now the largest independent symphonic pops orchestra in the United States, enjoying one of the highest subscription renewal rates of any series at Carnegie Hall. The orchestra has also toured throughout the world and performs free concerts in New York City parks through its Summermusic program.

The New York Pops’ extensive education programs allow public schoolchildren to participate in numerous concert and music-making experiences: Salute To Music provides free instrumental lessons to more than one hundred New York City junior-high school students each year; Kids in the Balcony arranges for hundreds of children to attend all of The New York Pops concerts at Carnegie Hall; other education programs such as Create a Symphony and Rhythm, Rhyme & Rap teach skills such as composition, instrument building, percussion performance, and literacy.

The New York Pops’ recordings include a recently reissued CD of the orchestra’s 1983 debut performance as well as From Berlin to Bernstein, The New York Pops Goes to the Movies, Christmas in the Country, Magical Moments from Great Musicals, and With A Song in My Heart – the Music of Richard Rodgers with Maureen McGovern.

For the fourth year in a row in the summer of 2008, the orchestra performed the musical accompaniment to the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular, seen by more than 10 million television viewers nationwide on NBC.

A recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York Pops is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely through the generosity of individual donations, institutional grants, and concert income.